Tag: UFSD

Our Universal File System Driver (UFSD) technology has been selected by Western Digital Corporation to provide advanced connectivity capabilities for the recently launched WD Pro series of products as part of an expanded software license agreement.

Building upon Western Digital’s use of Paragon’s NTFS and HFS+ UFSD drivers since 2009, the new agreement calls for Paragon’s exFAT technology to be embedded in a broad range of network attached storage (NAS) devices. In addition to supporting Western Digital’s new My Passport® Wireless Pro Wi-Fi® mobile storage product line, Paragon exFAT drivers will also be provided as a firmware update for the new My Cloud® Pro Series NAS, including the My Cloud® EX2 Ultra, My Cloud® EX2100, My Cloud® EX4100, My Cloud® DL2100 and My Cloud® DL4100 NAS devices.

Leveraging Paragon’s UFSD technology for the built-in SD card reader and USB 3.0 port, Western Digital customers can attach their NTFS, HFS+ and now exFAT for SDXC cards and other exFAT-formatted storage devices to WD’s Linux-based products and have rapid, transparent and full read/write access to these non-native file systems. The embedded Paragon drivers feature powerful utilities that maintain file system integrity and fully protect stored data, while delivering high performance for smooth playback and recording of Full HD Video content including 4K Video, with no limits on file or volume size. And by adding Paragon’s exFAT technology, WD products now support SDXC cards and provide maximum interoperability between Windows and Mac OS X operating systems.

“Paragon has already proven its value as a trusted software provider to our storage product lines and solutions, with powerful UFSD technology that enhances connectivity to create seamless cross-platform interoperability for our customers,” said Sven Rathjen, VP, marketing content solutions, WD. “We are pleased to extend and strengthen our partnership, and appreciate the top notch support we receive from their dedicated team.”

Western Digital’s new My Passport Wireless Pro Wi-Fi mobile storage device, offering up to 3TB of storage capacity, is built to accompany professional photographers and videographers in the field for easy and wireless offloading, editing and streaming of captured photos and HD videos. Also designed for creative professionals, and with up to 32TB of storage, the My Cloud Pro Series NAS solutions are optimized to import files from cameras, memory cards (with a USB adapter) and other USB storage with a simple one-touch backup button.

“Western Digital is a world-class company with world-class products. We are thrilled and honored to expand our partnership by supporting their exciting new mobile storage and NAS offerings,” said Tom Fedro, president, Paragon Software Group Corp. “Through the use of our UFSD products, Western Digital is not only delivering seamless connectivity, but also providing a greater customer experience.”

Resilient File System (ReFS) was first introduced by Microsoft Corporation in the release of Microsoft Server 2012. Since then support of this file system has been integrated into Microsoft server and desktop operating systems like Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10, Server 2016 (Technical Preview).

ReFS was designed with one key goal in mind – file system integrity and the ability to verify and auto-correct data without need to run a separate file system checking utility.

To provide better NTFS file system compatibility for existing applications, Microsoft is using the same API for implementing file system semantics: “This code implements the file system interface (read, write, open, close, change notification, etc.), maintains in-memory file and volume state, enforces security, and maintains memory caching and synchronization for file data. This reuse ensures a high degree of compatibility with the features of NTFS that we’re carrying forward”.

Unfortunately even with the upper-layer engine nearly identical to what’s found in NTFS, up until now, only Microsoft platforms provided access to ReFS volumes; as a result, a Windows PC or a virtual machine running a supported Windows operating system would still be required to open files on Refs volumes from other platforms such as Linux, Mac, etc.

Paragon Software’s development team has been working on integrating ReFS file system support into our UFSD (Universal File System Driver) technology since 2012. We are happy to announce the present result of this work and release a Paragon UFSD driver that supports working with Refs volumes in read-only mode (full solution with both read and write support is under active development).

Introduction to the Paragon ReFS Universal File System Driver

1. Create a ReFS volume on Windows Server 2012 platform:

2. Mount a ReFS volume on Linux:

3. Copy data from ReFS on Linux:

As you can see, with the help of the Paragon ReFS driver anyone can make a copy of their data from the ReFS volume on a Linux platform, without need for a Windows PC.

ReFS Compatibility within the Microsoft Ecosystem

With the release of Microsoft Server 2016 Technical Preview versions, Microsoft has shown that it continues to develop the ReFS file system. The newest ReFS version implemented into the Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 revision is not currently compatible with the previous Microsoft platforms, like Windows Server 2012 R2.

The more storage space a mobile device has, the more expensive it costs. With Paragon’s USB plugin, you won’t need to spend more on storage space. Instead, just use an inexpensive portable storage device connected to your Android device using the USB OTG cable — the same way you already do it with your desktop computer or laptop. There’s no longer a need to replace your Android device when all you need is more storage space.

There are two simple ways to get extra storage space using Paragon Software:

SD card: Add an extra 32-128 GB for less than $25

USB Mass Storage Device: Use it for backup or to save multimedia no matter where you are

You do not need to stay online all the time to work with data. Cloud storage is not yet the best way to share or work with multimedia and other common data. Even if you were in Antarctica, you can make data transfers between any device without mobile internet or Wi-Fi by using any SD card or USB Mass Storage Device you prefer.

#4 – Save & Share 4K videos and other high-resolution media

2016 will see an explosion of 4K and 8K video content, creating new storage demands for the video creation industry and tech-savvy consumers. Filming in 4K takes up about seven times more data than 1080p, so what’s the best solution for storing all of this data? You can simply use portable storage devices as a data bank, connected to your Android device using a USB OTG cable and Paragon’s USB plugin.

#5 – NTFS Support on Android without Root

Android does not yet natively support NTFS read/write capabilities (read more above). Most SD cards/pen drives arrive formatted as FAT32. Average users who prefer not to root their Android smartphones can now add NTFS support to Android from the Total Commander app and USB plugin developed by Paragon. Enjoy non-root communications!